Gold Glove

From BR Bullpen

The Rawlings Gold Glove Award, commonly called the Gold Glove Award has been awarded annually since 1957 for "superior individual fielding performance". The award is given by Rawlings to the top fielders at each position in both the American League and National League based on a vote by managers and coaches. The award was originally given based on a vote by sportswriters. In the following year (1958), players were given the right to vote. Finally, in 1965, the vote was switched to coaches and managers.

Over the years, the award has gone through some minor changes. After the first year's awards were given out irrespective of league, in 1958, Gold Gloves were awarded in each league. From 1961 to 2011, voters picked any three outfielders rather than one at each outfield position. Prior to that and since 2012, voters have chosen outfielders based on the specific field which they play.

There has been criticism of the award based on the fact that voters seem to rewards players based more on their offensive prowess than their defensive excellence, and that once players win one award, they seem to become entrenched as winners, even if their defensive performance in following years declines markedly. The most egregious case of a poor decision was when Rafael Palmeiro was awarded a Gold Glove at first base in 1999, in a season when he played the vast majority of his games as a DH. To counter such criticism, Rawlings announced in 2013 that the award would henceforth include a sabermetric component, the "SABR Defensive Index", which is an aggregate measure of various advanced defensive statistics such as ultimate zone rating, defensive runs saved, defensive regression analysis and total zone rating. Results from the SDI will account for a quarter of the vote totals, with managers and coaches providing the remaining three-quarters of the votes.

The award itself is a gold lamé-tanned leather glove affixed to a walnut base.

Pitcher Greg Maddux holds the record with 17 gold glove wins. Darin Erstad is the only player to win a Gold Glove as both an outfielder (2000 and 2002) and infielder (2004, 1B).